An Unlikely Friend
by The-crazy-lone-wolf77
Summary: When Humphrey stumbles upon an injured wolf, things start to change in his life. Unfortunately, it's not for the better.
1. Chapter 1

I stumbled through the forest, trying my best just to try and stay awake. I kept checking behind me just making sure that no one was following me. So far I hadn't seen anyone but I couldn't be to sure. These wolves were sneaky. Though I couldn't let that slow me down, I had to keep pushing on.

I didn't know how much farther I could get. I was bleeding heavily and it was obvious that I wasn't going to make it much farther. Already my vision was getting a bit blurry and I was stumbling around like an idiot. I didn't know what I was going to do. If I just passed out here, they would for sure find me and take me back. I needed to find a solution and fast.

I didn't know how I had made it this far. The wolves who were hunting me down were highly trained psycho killers. It didn't seem logical that I had made it this far in my current state. But I guess I shouldn't be complaining, I was still alive and I guess that's all that matters.

What happened next I didn't know if it was luck or not. In my state of confusion I didn't know where I was really going, and I just happened to step over a ledge. I lost my footing and started tumbling down a hill. I swear I hit just about everything I could on the way down.

The hill seemed to go on forever, but eventually it did come to a stop. When the little 'ride' was over I just lyed sprawled out on the ground moaning in pain. I was really disoriented and couldn't comprehend anything. My head hurt immensely and my body was full of pain. That hill really took its toll on me.

The last thing I remembered before blacking out was the outline of a wolf calling out to me. After that my vision went black and my mind went blank.

* * *

"Who does she think she is?" I asked myself as I walked around in a blind rage.

I was just so angry right now. It seemed like Kate only thought for herself, she didn't care about anything else but her. She was just so selfish and I couldn't take it.

We had just gotten into an argument a little while ago and I just had to leave and blow off some steam. Stupid alphas always believing that they're better than everyone else.

We had been together for a little over a year now, and everything was going just great. It seemed like nothing could ever separate us. But this past week it seems we've just been getting on each others last nerves.

I know I love her, but sometimes it just was put to the test and I couldn't help but feel a little regret in this.

"Sometimes I wonder what I ever saw in her." I said to myself.

Maybe this is why there was a law that made it so alphas and omegas couldn't be together. Maybe we just aren't compatable. I sighed to myself, I was getting way ahead of myself. It was just a simple argument. But then again, what if it wasnt?

My train of thought was broken when I heard sudden screams coming from a hill off to the side of me. I looked over and saw the sillouet of a wolf tumbling down the hill. When he finally came to an abrupt stop at the bottom thr the hill I rushed over to him, calling out to him.

When I got over to him he was already knocked out cold. I scanned his body and seethed at the sight of him. He was covered in scratches and even had some deep gashes on him. He was also bleeding pretty heavily. I needed to get him to a pack healer and fast or he wouldn't live much longer.

I couldn't just call for help, they wouldn't get here in time to take him to the the healers den. I was going to have to carry him, which would prove to be difficult. He was a rather largly built wolf. He wasnt fat, he was just big.

I got under his body and put him on my back. I nearly fell to the ground right there. But I needed to save this wolf so I pushed on. I slowly went from a walk to a slow and steady run.

As I was running I passed a few wolves who gave me weird looks as I ran by them.

Luckily, the healers den wasn't to far away from where I found this wolf. I ran into the den to find the healer, Earl, working on a pup.

"Now just don't put any pressure on it for awhile. And restrain from jumping from trees from now on." He told him. The pup nodded his head and scampered over to his mother.

Earl then turned to me and looked at the wolf on my pack. He gasped at the sight,"Humphrey, what happened? Who is that?" He asked.

"I have no idea. I just found him after he rolled down a hill." I told him.

"I see... put him down over here so I can get to work on him. He looks to be immensely injured. He might die in the next hour or so." He told me.

I did what he said and put him down in a corner. Earl then ushered me out of the den while he went to work on his patient. I told him I'd be back later, I wanted to see how this wolf turns out.

I walked down to the feeding grounds and decided to get something to eat. While I was there I ran into some of my buddies.

"Hey man, how's it going?" Salty asked me.

"Not so good my friend." I told him with a sigh.

"What's wrong buddy?" Mooch asked.

I explained to the three that Kate and I had gotten into a fight earlier this morning and it didn't end to well. They all looked at me with pitty and sympathy.

"Bummer dude, but I guess those things happen." Shaky said.

"Yah, but this seemed pretty serious. There was a lot of yelling involved." I told them.

They asked if they could do anything. I told them no, that this would have to be something that Kate and I would have to sort out.

They told me that they were sorry again and then decided to take off. I said my goodbyes to them as they took off.

"Sometimes I really miss hanging out with those guys." I whispered to myself.

"Hey Humphrey." I heard a feminine voice call out from behind me.

I turned around to see the other alpha and omega couple of the pack. Lilly and Garth made there way over to me leaning up against each other, looking as happy as ever.

"How's everything going?" She asked me.

"Everything is going just fine!" I lied to them, putting on a fake smile.

"That's great. Hey want to hear some great news?" She asked.

I nodded my head, intrigued by what she had to tell me.

She put on the biggest smile I had ever seen a wolf have and told me "Garth and I are having pups!" She squealed.

I smiled too and got up to congratulate the two of them. They told me that they had been trying to have pups for awhile now, and that Eve just confirmed it. I was happy for them, I truly was. But that got me to thinking about Kate and I's relationship.

These two seemed so happy, like nothing in the world was wrong. I wish that could be Kaye and I right now. But I just don't know. The things we both said some would call unforgivable.

After a little more talking, Garth and Lilly said that they needed to go tell some of their other friends. I nodded and said goodbye as they bidded their farewell.

That's when I decided it was about time to go back and check up on that wolf. I made my way over to the healers den. I knew this wolf was in great paws. Earl was quite a renowned wolf from around the pack. He has performed more than a few miricals in his life time. I also knew him well. Me being the reckless omega I am, I ended up in this den more than once.

I entered the den and saw Earl cleaning himself up from the blood that was on his fur. He was washing himself in the river thst flowed from his den.

"Is he going to be ok?" I asked him.

Earl looked over in my direction quizzically, but once he saw it was me he just smiled. "He's going to be just fine. He did take one hell of a beating, but nothing I couldn't take care of." He said just finishing up.

I nodded my head while walking over to the wolves motionless body. I took this time to study the wolves physical features. Like I said from before, he was very large in stature. Then there was his fur, it was kind of peculiar. It was jet black with crimson red stripes. Kind of odd.

But I then noticed a lot of deep gashes. No doubt he would be getting a lot scars from these. Those would add to the already many scars he had.

"He'll probably wake up some time tomorrow morning. You can come back early tomorrow to see him." Earl told me.

I sighed lightly. I really shouldn't go back to her right now. We both just needed time apart from each other. It would probably be very unwise to see her right now.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could possibly stay here for the night?" I asked.

Earl looked over at me,"Is everything ok?"

"I'm having some maridge problems right now." I told him plainly.

He just nodded his head. "I guess it's fine."

I thanked him and went over to an empty spot in the den and lyed down. I reran everything that happened today through my mind. Everything just gave me a giant headache. I just decided to forget about it for the day. So I put down my head and went to sleep.

 **This is a new project I've been working on. Hope you guys like it. Please review and tell me what you think.**

 **Peace Out**


	2. Chapter 2

My night was anything but comfortable. All night I was rolling around on the ground trying to get comfortable. Everywhere I tried just seemed even less comfortable than the last. Then there was the nonstop thoughts that went through my mind. Mostly about Kate and our fight. I knew I was stressing over nothing. Couples have fights all the time, it's normal. Its just that Kate and I have never even raised our voice towards each other, much less than fight.

Then when I did actually get to sleep it was only for maybe a half hour, forty-five minutes at most. This went on the whole night. I couldn't do anything to get to sleep. I was actually still up by the time the sun started to rise. I sighed deeply upon seeing this knowing that I hadn't got any sleep.

It was no use in trying to sleep anymore so I just decided to lay there leaving only me and my thoughts. Still the memory of yesterday lingered. It just wouldn't go away. I knew I was going to have to talk to her sooner or later to clear everything up, or this would be the only thing on my mind for a long time.

I lyed awake for what seemed to be hours. It was so long that I wittnesed Earl come into the den. He told me he'd be back to his den around mid morning. I had officialy gotten no sleep.

"Hello Humphrey, sleep well?" He greeted.

I realeased a big yawn before responding. "Yah, it was fine." I lied to him.

"That's good. Heard anything from the patient?" He asked, pointing over to the unknown wolf.

"No, he was unconscious all night." I told him.

He nodded his head. He looked like he was going over some things in his head before nodding to himself while whispering some words that I could not hear.

He then directed his attention over to me. He walked straight over to me and sat down in front of me. "So Humphrey, are you going to tell me what's going on between you and Kate?" He asked.

I was at a loss of words, not expecting him to say that. I just looked at him blankly and stayed silent.

"Come on Humphrey, we've known each other for years. You can trust me." He said.

I thought about it. Earl and I had known one another for quite some time. I spent a lot of my time in his den from all my injuries I gained over the years, and in that time I had really gotten to know him. He actually helped with a lot of things in my life.

In a lot of ways he acted like a father towards me. Since I didn't have any parents with me anymore I was glad to be able to have Earl in my life. He taught me many things that only a parent could teach. He had some really good practice.

I sighed deeply and began to tell him what happened last night. But before I coukd get any words out, we heard groaning coming from the side of us. I looked over and saw the mystery wolf I saved last night finally waking up.

I looked back at Earl. "We'll finish this conversation later." He told me while walking over to his patient.

I followed behind, stopping right in front of the wolf.

"Morning!" I greeted with a warm smile.

Once I had spoken I immediately regreted it. His eyes shot open and his head popped up. He looked at me with a killers glare and released a vicious snarl.

"Let me go you you bastards." He yelled while taking a swipe at me with his massive paw. His voice was low but powerful making it plenty intimidating.

I yelped as I nearly avoided his aggressive attack on me. "Whoa, calm down dude. I'm frienfly!" I yelled at him, but he didn't even bother to pay attention to my words.

He continued with his assault, trying his hardest to get to me. Luckily, he had missed every time. Though you could tell that he was very discombobulated, one could only imagine what would happen if he wasn't.

The wolf was about to swipe at Humphrey again, but before he did he let out a slight yelp before collapsing on the hard Rock ground of the den. I looked out behind him to see Earl looking down at this wolf with sympathy.

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"Easy. When you're the doctor of the pack you learn a lot of things. One of those things include pressure points. I'm not the biggest wolf around so that's what I use to take others down when need be. Case in point" He explained to me while pointing down to the wolf that attacked me.

"Why did he fricken attack me?" I asked out loud.

"I don't know, but I'm guessing he thought we were hostile." Earl said.

"Why would he think I'm hostile?" I questioned.

"Judging by his injuries, I'm assuming before you found him he had been attacked. And judging by his size and scars he is definitely some sort of soldier. He's just freaking out thinking he's still being attacked." Earl explained.

I nodded, sort of understanding what he was telling me. Guess he was just kind of having some sort of panic attacks.

"Humphrey I need you to go and get Winston and Garth for me." Earl ordered me.

"Why?" I asked him, wondering why he would need those two.

"We need to report this to Winston immediately, it's just the rules. And I need Garth to be able to restrain him just in case he goes insane again." He told me.

I nodded and immediately left to go and do what Earl wanted me to do.

The first place that I was going to go to was to find Winston. The main den was the closest place to the healers den. I figured that would be where Winston would most likely be.

I ran up the slope that lead to the main den. I peaked into the den and called out to Winston.

"What is it, Humphrey." I heard him call back.

"Earl sent me to come and get you. He needs you down at the healers den." I told him.

He walked up to me from the depths of the cave. "What's wrong? Is everything alright?" He asked me with concern.

"Yah, theres just this wolf that I found and brought him to Earl. He just told me to come and get you. SaI'd tgat it was the rules." I told him.

He nodded his head in understanding. "Lead the way." He said.

"Ok, but first we have to go and get Garth." I told him.

"Why would we need Garth." Winston questioned.

"Well, the first time he woke up, he kind of turned hostile. Earl said it was something about him being a soldier or something." I explained to him.

"I see... well then let's get going. We're not getting anything done just standing here." He said.

I nodded and we headed out to go and find Garth. "Any idea on where he would be?" I asked.

Winston looked up. "Judging by the sun, he should be getting back from the morning hunt any minute now." Winston commented.

As if on cue we saw the hunters coming out of the tree line, returning from their hunt. In the midst of them I spotted Garth dragging a large caribou. I pointed him out to Winston and he nodded. He walked over to him.

"Hutch, take this from Garth. He needs to accompany us at the healers den." Winston ordered them. The two nodded and Garth walked over to us.

"What's going on, is everything fine?" He asked.

"yah, but we need you with us at the healers den. Doctors orders." I told him.

Garth looked at me with a little concern. It kind of looked like he was upset with me, yet he also looked sympathetic for me. Why? I couldn't tell you.

"Alright, let's get going." He said.

We then left from that spot and continued on back to the healers den. No one spoke as we walked, not that it really mattered. We weren't walking that far. So there was no need for a conversation.

But as we approached the den we started to hear shouting and loud growling coming from in it. We all looked at each other nervously before sprinting into the den. When we got there we saw the unknown wolf attacking Earl. Earl looked fine, except for a little scratch that he had on his side.

"I'll kill you all." He snarled at us with extreme hostility.

Garth immediately took action and stepped in front of Earl.

"Finally, a wolf who looks like he can actually fight." He spat, a killer look eched in his eyes.

"Calm down soldier, we are not your enemy." Winston yelled.

"First of all im not a soldier, im a lone wolf. Second, if you're not my enemy then why am I here, locked in this den." He asked viciously.

"I saved you." I told him. "I found you passed out after you rolled down a hill. I brought you here, to our healers den." I explained.

That seemed to calm him down a little, but not much. "Where am I?" He demanded.

"The central pack of Jasper Park." Winston told him.

That made him relax completely. He then started to look very bad. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about this. I could of sworn that I was somewhere else. You have no idea how sorry I am." He apologized.

It was kind of weird to see a wolf that looked like this, and who was only moments ago trying to kill us, now apologizing to all of us.

"I hope I didn't hurt you too badly." He said to Earl.

Earl just chuckled,"I've had worse." He said.

"I'm sorry sir for intruding on your pack and attacking your wolves. I've already caused to much trouble, I really should be leaving." He insisted.

"Uh uh uh, not so fast son, I can't let you leave yet. You are definitely in no condition to be traveling." Earl told him.

"And I want some answers from you before you leave." Winston said.

The unknown wolf seemed like he was trying to come up with some sort of excuse to get out of this. But he sighed in defeat and put down his head.

"Fine, I guess you guys win." He mumbled uncaringly.

Something about what he said kind of made it sound like 'Its your funeral' and I didn't like the sounds of it. This wolf kind of made me uneasy.

"Great, now that that's settled I only need to know one more thing. What's your name?" Winston asked.

"The names McCabe." He told everyone.

"Great, now if you'll excuse me I need to take care of some things." Winston said.

"But sir, shouldn't someone watch after him." Garth asked.

Winston thought for a second. "Yah, let Humphrey look after him. I'm pretty sure they'll get along nicely. Now come on Garth." Winston ordered him as the both of them left the den.

"Well, I'm going to go and get something to eat. You two behave." Earl said, him leaving also.

That just left me and McCabe in the den alone. We awkwardly tried to avoid eye contact, not wanting to look directly at one another. I honestly didn't know how I felt about this wolf. He was obviously deadly, yet he was very respectful once he found out that we weren't trying to harm him. This was going to be awkward.


	3. Chapter 3

The healers den was erupting in laughter. McCabe and I had started talking a little bit after everyone had left. It was a little awkward at first but after awhile we started to just have some casual conversation and eventually we were cracking jokes. We were talking to each other like we have known one another our whole lifes.

He was just so easy to talk with. At first he seemed kind of shy, which was kind of weird, but once he started talking it seemed like he wouldn't stop. He was really quite funny. Despite him trying to kill us a little while ago, he was actually a really nice wolf.

"Humphrey, I'd really like to thank you for staying here and talk with me. Even if your leader technicaly made you do this, it still feels nice to talk with someone. I haven't had a legitimate conversation in forever." He thanked me.

He kind of looked depressed about that. He must have been really lonely in his life as a lone wolf. Everyone knows that the life of a lone wolf is a hard and lonely one. Rarely you ever interact with another wolf. Usually they end up going insane and they aren't very pleasant to be around.

But it seemed that McCabe defied these stereotypes. He was very respectful, and pleasant to be with. He seemed sane for the most part. The only thing that seemed fitting was that he was lonely. I would have to try and change that.

"Its no problem. I have nothing better to do anyway." I told him.

"Really? I find that hard to believe. You don't have a mate or anything?" He asked.

I laughed nervously and looked around the cave. "Yah I do." I told him.

"So who is the lucky omega?" He asked.

"Why do you think shes an omega?" I asked.

"Well, it's the law. You are an omega right." He questioned.

"Oh yah, I forgot about that. Its been awhile since that law was taken away. I'm actually mated with an alpha. Her names Kate." I told him, a little nervous about his reaction.

"Ohhhh, so you're the wolf who help disband the law in this pack." He stated in realization.

"You know about me?" I asked astonished.

"Who doesn't? You guys took a giant step by getting rid of that law. Some wolves respect you for your decisions, while others kind of feel like you have made a disgrace of all wolf kind." McCabe explained.

"Oh, well... I don't know how to really feel about that." I commented.

He just laughed a little. "Don't worry. I think it's awesome what you guys did. If that means anything." He said.

I smiled,"Thanks, it does mean something. For now at least." I said

"What do you mean?" He asked.

I thought for a second, wondering to myself if I should tell him. What harm would he do with this information, he was going to be leaving in like a week anyway.

"Kate and I got into a fight last night. It was pretty bad. We both said some really mean things to each other." I told him.

"Ahh, maridge issues. Yah I used to have fights with my mate." He told me.

"You had a mate?" I asked.

"Yah. She's not around anymore though. She got sick and passed away awhile ago." He responded.

"I'm sorry to hear that." I said.

"Its not your fault. Besides, it happened awhile ago and I'm over it. But enough about me, you need to go and talk to your mate. If you don't, it won't end well. I almost lost my mate because of a simple argument and I was to stubborn to apologize. Luckily I did happen to apologize and I didn't lose her." He told me.

I lowered my head and nodded. "Thanks. I guess you're right." I said.

"I know, I usually am." He said with a smug smile.

I just rolled my eyes. "Its to late to go tonight. I'll go early in the morning." I said.

"That's good." He said releasing a yawn. "Man am I tired." He told me while lying his head down. I was going to say something else to him but when I turned to him he was already asleep.

That's when I decided that I should go get something to eat. I hadn't eaten a thing all day. I got up and stretched out my stiff muscles. I'd been lying down all day and I had lost all the feeling in my legs.

I walked out of the den and made my way over to the feeding grounds. It was a short walk and in no time I was there. I walked over to a caribou and started digging in. It was pretty late so there was no one around.

That didn't really last long.

"Humphrey." I heard someone yell, and they sounded angry.

I looked over and saw Lilly making her way over to me looking really pissed.

"What did you do to my sister. She's been crying all day." Lilly yelled.

"Lilly please, you don't understand." I tried to say.

But she brushed it aside. "You better go and talk to her or I will kill you. You don't have any right in making her cry." She growled.

"I wasn't the only one fighting Lilly. I was hurt by it too. You have no part in this argument and it is none of your business." I said trying to keep her calm.

"How dare you, I am her sister." She yelled.

"Lilly!" A new voice yelled.

We both turned to see Eve walking towards us. "Lilly, please leave now. I need to talk with Humphrey." She told her.

Lilly smiled,"Good luck." She whispered while walking away.

I gulped as Eve made her way over to me. This couldn't be good.

"Don't worry Humphrey, I'm not going to do anything to you. I know what's happened between you and Kate. I figured it would eventually, ever since I told her the news." Eve stared.

"What news, how did you know." I asked.

"You'll just have to talk with Kate about that. Its not my place to say anything. But be warned Humphrey, you may not like what you hear." Eve warned as she walked away off to her den.

That just left me sitting there with only my thoughts. What could be so bad that it would cause Kate to freak out on me. It kind of freaked me out. What if it was something very serious. I didn't want to think about what coukd be wrong with Kate.

I shook my head trying to clear my thoughts of all the negative things. But knowing that something was wrong just made me sick.

I decided that it would be best for me to head back to the healers den. There I would get some rest and then in the morning I would go and talk to Kate and hopefully fix everything up. Maybe everything would be able to go back to normal. But something told me that nothing was going to be the same.


	4. Chapter 4

Well this was it. This is the moment I had been avoiding for nearly two days. But I just had to do it, it's been tearing me apart from the inside. I was being emotionaly destroyed. I didn't get ant sleep again last night adding to the stress of everything.

Plus, most everyone I have talked to about my fight with Kate have told me to talk to her. We needed to sort this out and that was what I was setting out to do. Not just for my sake though. From what Lilly said last night, Kate was in the same boat as me. Apparently she was also being an emotional wreck. That's why I needed to set things right. Even if I am the one to take the fall for everything.

I love Kate with all my heart and hate having hurt her. It made me feel guilty. I was supposed to be kind and loving towards her, not an ass hole. Even though she wasn't inocent in all of this, I don't care anymore.

The closer I got to our den the faster my heart started to beat. If felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. Even if I was willing to let everything go, I had no idea what Kates reaction would be. I saw this going one of two ways, either she would forgive me or she would kick me out. I really hoped it would be the first one.

I suddenly stopped in my tracks and looked directly in front of me. Up a small slope was my den where Kate was. Where either everything would go back to normal or my life would change forever. This time, though, it wouldn't be a good change.

I took a deep breath, clearning all my thoughts, then I started walking up to the entrance of the den. I peeked through the entrance of the den and saw a figure lying down in the darkness. I knew that thus wasn't going to be easy for either of us, but it needed to be done. This fight could not determine the fate of Kate and I's marriage, I wasn't going to let it.

"Kate." I called softly out to her. At first there was no responce. After the second time I called her, I saw her body move a little, but there was still no response. It kind of hurt me a little. She was ignoring me when I am just trying to clear things up between us. I just brushed it aside for the moment, I couldn't linger on that little thing. I needed to focus on the bigger picture right now.

"Kate, please. We need to talk about the other day." I insisted.

Her head slowly rose and I heard her sigh. "Come on in Humphrey." She said in almost a whisper.

Step one was complete, so far so good. Now hopefully everything would continue to go as smooth as possible. Possibly a few bumps, but I couldn't be sure.

I made my way around her, and sat down in front of her. She sat up and we were looking at each other. Then everything got awkward. We just sat there and looked at each other, neither one of us saying a word. I honestly didn't know what to say. I know I wanted to talk, but now I couldn't find out what to say. This is one of those bumps that I had mentioned earlier.

What was I supposed to say in this situation. Am I supposed to let her talk first, do I just come out and plainly tell her I'm sorry and hope for the best. It was difficult to do this.

I finally decided for the best thing to say. "Kate, I know what we said, what I said, the other day was really uncalled for. We both said some things and now I just want to say, I'm sorry. I still love you from the bottom of my heart and I hope we can make things better."

Kate sat there for awhile, it looked like she was taking in everything I was saying. That's when she did something I did not expect. She started crying and flung her arms around me.

"I'm so sorry Humphrey. Its all my fault, I'm the one who started the fight. It was such a stupid little argument that could of easily been avoided. I just let my emotions get the better of me. I'm the one who should be apologizing for everything. I'm sorry Humphrey." She bawled into me.

I just let her cry into me as I sat there comforting her. It kind of made me feel good. This was my purpose for me being her mate. I would always be there for her. In the best of times, and in the worst of times.

After awhile she finally calmed down. I then pushed her away and looked into her eyes. I needed to talk to her about what Eve said to me last night.

"Kate, Eve told me that you two talked the other day. She said that you guys found out some bad news. She said that this was the reason why we fought. Please Kate, tell me what's wrong."

Kate turned her head away from me and chocked on a sob. She tried to speak but all that came out were slurred words.

"Its alright Kate, take your time." I told her.

She just shook her head and sucked in her sobs. "I'm... I'm." She just couldn't get it out.

"Its ok Kate, just take a minute to compose your self." I said to her.

She just nodded her head and buried her head deeper into my chest. It took her awhile but eventually she finally calmed down enough to speak.

She got off of me and thanked me. "My mom and I where talking the other day and I brought up the subject about how I didn't get pregnant over mating season. She asked me some questions and did a few tests." She started to choke up again but still went on. "She concluded that... Humphrey we can't be parents." She sobbed.

I looked at her in shock. "What do you mean Kate. What do you mean we can't be parents."

She looked at me with sad, red eyes. "Humphtey, I'm sterile. I can't have kids. I can never give you a pup which means you can't be a father." She cried out.

I looked down at the ground with disbelief, shock, saddness? I didn't know what I was feeling right now. The news was just so sudden and very much unexpected, I didn't know how to feel about it. But I knew what I wasn't feeling. And from the looks of Kate, I bet she thought that I would despise hee for it.

"Kate, I don't mind. I mean am I a little disappointed, yes. But that doesn't change how I feel about you. I still love you with all my heart. And nothing, not even this, will change that." I told her.

I meant every word of that. I couldn't not be in love with her. My love was just to great for her. I could get over the fact that I couldn't have a pup of my own, but I wouldn't be able to get over not being with her.

"Thank you Humphrey, thank you." Kate said calmly bringing me into yet another hug.

I could still hear her muffled sobs as we hugged each other. I was trying to comfort her as much as I possibly could. She needed to know that I was going to stay by her side and that I wouldn't leave her. She needed to know that I loved her more than anything in the world. So I figured I would brighten up the mood a little.

"There is one up side to all this." I chuckled.

"And what would that be?" She asked with her mood brightning a little.

"We can do anything, any time we want." I whispered to her.

She giggled a little. I know this seemed a little inappropriate at the time, but I just needed to brighten her mood a little.

"I guess that's a little bit of a good thing." She said still a little depressed.

"Don't worry, we'll get through this together. We just need to stick together and everything will be fine." I reassured her.

Nothing was going to be the same, I bet we both knew that. But in some way I saw that this was going to improve our relationship immensely. It was going to bring us closer together. I squeezed her harder wanting her to know I would always, ALWAYS, be there for her.


	5. Chapter 5

"Come on Kate, I want you to meet him. He's actually a really cool guy. Despite him trying to kill me when we first met." I told Kate.

After our moment of misery last night, Kate and I had a very long discussion about what to do. It was already out of the question of me leaving her. I would never do that to her, because I just loved her to much like I have said so many times before. But we both said that we would try and make this work. I told Kate about Lilly and she said she would deal with her later. As for the rest of our friends we would just have to tell them in time.

We both had fully forgiven one another of what we had said to each other the other night. What had happened was Kate was just really emotional and a simple little thing turned into a huge argument that led to things that shouldn't have been said. But now I understood that Kate was just really upset and let her emotions get the better of her. But we put all of that behind us and promised not to speak of anything we had said.

Luckily, Kate began to feel much better. I know it must be hard for her. Ever since we were little she had talked about wanting to have pups someday. She always fantasized over being a mother, and now getting told that she can't, it just broke her heart. It also doesn't help that she blames herself for not being able to give me kids, but as of right now I could care less about that. All I wanted to do now was be there to comfort her just in case she had another break down.

"I don't know. Why would he even have to attack you in the first place. He dosn't seem like the greatest of wolves to be with." She said skepticaly.

"Just trust me Kate, once you meet him you'll see how great of a wolf he is." I assured her.

"Fine, I guess if he's your friend it won't kill me to just meet him." She sighed.

I wagged my tail slightly, glad that she was willing to meet McCabe. He really was quite the wolf. I didn't know much about him but we really seemed to connect to each other. He was really funny and just plain out awesome.

As we walked we ran into my buddies: Salty, Shaky and Mooch.

"Hey you two, looks like you guys made up." Mooch pointed out.

"Yah, just some miscommunication. Everything is better between us." I told them.

"Buuut..." Salty said.

I rolled my eyes. These three always seemed to know when I wasn't telling the truth or when I wasn't telling them everything. I guess it's just because we have known each other for so long. We all shared a special type of brotherly bond that can only come along once in a life time. And I'm glad I am able to be friends with these three. Even if it is annoying that I can't keep secrets from them.

I looked over at Kate and she nodded her head. "Kate and I, we can't have pups. She's sterile." I told them wit a soft voice.

The three of them looked shocked when I said this. They pointed their heads at the ground trying to avoid eye contact. "Sorry for bringing that up." Salty said.

"Its ok you guys. Don't worry, we're going to be fine. We don't need you guys worying about us. we've already talked through everything." Kate told them.

The guys nodded their heads. "Are you sure you both are going to be ok?" Mooch asked.

I smiled. "We're sure. Thanks for your concern we really appreciate it. Now if you'll excuse us, we were going to meet with someone." I told them.

We walked away from them and continued on our way to the healers den where McCabe was. I'm really glad that I could have friends like Salty, Shaky and Mooch. They really cared for mime and Kate's well being. They really just wanted us to be happy and I couldn't ask for better friends.

We didn't get to walk a hundred feet before we ran into Lilly and Garth. Lilly eyed Kate and I, probably still mad from last night. But as she continued to look at us I guess she saw that we had made up.

"I guess you two are on better terms now, well I'm glad to see that." She said, returning to her natural perky attitude.

"Oh Kate, I was going to tell you something last night, but you were, we'll you know." She said trying not to bring last night up. Kate just nodded her head.

"Well yah, I just wanted to tell you..."

"Uh, uh, uh, Lilly can I speak with you in private real quick. Kate, you and Garth can talk." I interrupted her. I walked past Garth and whispered into his ear, "don't talk about the pups." He slightly nodded, being a little confused.

I then walked away, urging Lilly to follow me. When we got far enough away I turned to her.

"What was that all about?" Lilly asked.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't let you tell Kate that you're having pups."

Lilly tilted her head. "Why wouldn't you want me to tell my sister that I'm having pups?"

"Its the same reason why she's been upset. Kate can't conceive, we can't have pups." I told her.

She covered her mouth and gasped. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"I know, I just didn't want her having another break down in the middle of the pack. So please, just for now, keep it a secret." I pleaded.

She nodded her head, understanding why she had to do this. She then rushed from me straight to her sister. I looked back to see her embracing Kate in a big hug. I walked back over and sat down next to Garth.

"What's going on, is everything alright?" He asked me.

"Just ask Lilly, she'll explain everything to you. Come on Kate we got to get going." I called to her.

"Remember, if you need anything just ask me." I heard Lilly tell her right before giving her one last hug. Kate thanked Lilly before pulling away and returning to my side.

Again we started walking to where McCabe was. Luckily, we were really close this time and we didn't run into anyone else on our way.

When we walked into the den, we saw Earl with that same pup I saw a couple of days ago.

"First your paw, now your tail. Either you need to calm yourself a little so you stop getting hurt, or I'm going to have your mom put you under den arrest." Earl scolded.

The pup nodded then walked back to his mother with his head down. We passed them on their way out.

"Pups, such a hand full." I heard Earl say.

I looked over at Kate when he said that. She looked a little sad at the comment but she didn't look like she was going to cry or anything, fortunately.

I looked around the den and became confused. "Hey Earl, where's McCabe?"

"Winston came in and took him out for a walk. Said he needed to talk with him." He said without even turning around.

"You can wait here, they're supposed to be back any minute now. They've been gone for about a half an hour now." He told us.

"Ok, thanks." I said.

"Kate you lye down, I'm going to go get you some breakfast from the feeding grounds." I told her.

She thanked me and then I left. I quickly made my way down to the feeding grounds and went to the nearest caribou carcass. But as I made my way down there I kept on catching glimpses of pups and there parents. I slowed down a little to take longer looks. I never really noticed, or even cared about seeing pups play around the pack, but now I was just drawn to the sight of them. That's not creepy, righy?

Wolves were running around playing with their children, laughing and having a great time. I saw dad's making their pups giggle from doing silly little things that only a pup would laugh at. It kind of made me jealous and gave me this feeling of emptiness in me.

I grabbed a leg from the caribou and then started walking back to Kate. I walked past the pups and a single tear fell from my eye. I knew I couldn't blame Kate for this, it wasn't her fault. She was just born this way. But that didn't mean that I couldn't not like the fact that I couldn't have any pups of my own. I know I love Kate, but I really wanted a pup that I could watch grown up, a pup that Kate and I could raise to be the best wolf they could be. I guess I kind of wanted to continue my legacy. It just didn't seem fair that Kate couldn't have pups.

I soon made it back to the den and walked in to find Kate and Earl talking. And from the way he looked at me when I entered I could tell that Kate told him. I dropped the slab of meat by Kate and we both began to dig in.

It didn't take long before the two of us devoured the whole thing only leaving some bones on the ground. I took the bones and disposed of them by throwing them out of the den.

As I was turning to come back in I heard the chattering of two familiar voices. I turned around to see Winston and McCabe walking back towards this den. McCabe walked with a slight limp and looked like he seethed every now and then.

"Hey McCabe." I shouted at him, waving my paw.

The two looked in my direction and McCabe smiled and waved back at me. Him and Winston said a few more words to each other before going there separate ways. McCabe limped his way over to me with a grin on his face.

"Why so happy?" I asked him.

"Well, while Winston and I were talking about some of my personal details, the subject of packs came up. That's when he asked if I would be interested in joining this one. So of course I accepted." He told me.

"That's great." I cheered while we walked into the den.

McCabe stopped and looked at something in front of him. I followed his gaze to see him looking at Kate.

"Who's the beautiful lady?" He asked.

Kate giggled a little. "That's my mate, Kate. Kate this is McCabe." I introduced them.

"Well its a pleasure to meet you. I'm glad that you two cleared everything up." He said. "Anyway, what brings you two down here."

"I just wanted to see how you were feeling today, and also I wanted you to meet Kate and for her to meet you." I said.

"Why's that?" He asked, kind of shocked.

"Because you're a great wolf. Plus you're my friend, I like Kate to know all of my friends." I told him.

He looked a little taken back. Its like he had never received a compliment. But he seemed to compose himself. "I've never really had a friend." He told me. "There's a reason why it's called being a lone wolf."

I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be a lone wolf. Only being able to rely on yourself on everything, never having anyone to talk to or hang out with. Its just you and the world in the life of a lone wolf. You live alone, you do everything alone, and you die alone. That's something I wish I would never have to expirience. I wouldn't last a week by myself.

"Well, you can kiss that title goodbye. You're part of the pack now, remember." I told him.

He smiled widely. "Yah, I guess I am."

"Wait, really? Since when?" Kate asked. Even Earl looked a little suprised.

"When I was out with Winston, he offered me a place in the pack. I would have been a fool to reject his offer." McCabe explained.

"Well, I'm happy for you I guess. Welcome to the Pack McCabe. And if you ever need anything, Humphrey and I will always be there to help you." Kate said.

"Thank you, both of you. You have no idea how much this means to me." He thanked.

"No problem, that's just how we treat each other around here." I explained.

The look on McCabe's face said it all. He was glad he was able to be apart of this pack. To be apart of something of a family. And to have friends, I could see that made him the happiest. It will probably take him awhile to adjust to pack life, especially since he would definitely be assigned alpha duties, but I knew he would be greatful no matter what. He was part of the pack, and he is my friend.


	6. Chapter 6

It has been a few weeks since Kate and I had found out about Kates problem. The first couple of days were kind of hard for the both of us. She would breakdown crying at the most random times because of something someone said. I couldn't blame her though. She was going through a very difficult stage in her life, and only time would heal her emotional scar.

I, myself, have also been having a hard time. Kate didn't know about this because I didn't want to make her feel even more guilty than she already was. I would just see pups running around playing and it would kind of just set me off. But I never showed it around Kate. I had to be strong for her.

By this point in time everyone in the pack had found out about Kate being sterile. News tends to travel fast in the packs. We would just be walking around when some random wolf would tell us that they were sorry about what happened. We didn't want everyone to find out so quickly, but it's hard to keep stuff from the pack.

The other thing that came out of Kate being sterile was the talk about an heir to the pack leader. Everyone knew that Kate and I would take over the pack after Winston and Eve retired, but who would take charge after us. It caused some arguments among the pack, but nothing that turned violent, fortunately.

Kate and I have been spending just about every moment with each other ever since we found out. Winston gave Kate some time off to cope with her problems so we took advantage of it by spending every waking moment together. Which made the both of us happy. It helped us take our minds off not being able to have pups.

To another matter on pups, Lilly couldn't stand not having Kaye know and finally told her that she was having pups. On the outside Kate looked excitrd for her sister and congratulated her, but I could see in her eyes that she was pained to hear that her younger sister would be having pups when she could never.

She had gotten much better over the past weeks, but I could see that it still pained her very much. I only wish that I could make it better somehow, but there was seemingly nothing that I could do.

Getting off that depressing subject, McCabe has been fitting in greatly with the pack. At first it was hard for him, since he had a suprisingly shy nature. But over time he made friends with all the Alphas and from what I can see he has gained all of there respect, even Hutchs which was difficult to do.

Unfortunately for him though, because of the injuries he suffered from being atracked he would live thr rest of his life with a permanent limp in his from right leg. Earl said that they had hit some muscles that wouldn't be able to heal.

In his short time of being here he has made quite a name for himself. For his first assignment as an alpha of the pack he had to hunt alone, assuring the others that he would be able to even be considered an alpha. Even though everyone knew he would be able to because he was a lone wolf and hunting by yourself is part of the life, no one expected what happened. He brought back a whole Moose. Full sized adult male and McCabe came back unharmed. That became the subject around the pack for awhile.

He was also very knowledgeable of many things. I can't really give a specific example, but I do know that he has helped solve several problems around the pack. They were often small ones but he seemed to know many things about what to do with them.

Then there was his fighting ability. One day when Lilly had taken Kate on a girls day out, I decided to go to the Alpha training camp where alphas improved there skills. When I was there they happened to be sparing that day. I don't know what happened but an argument broke out between Garth and McCabe. The end result was a sparing match between McCabe and three other Alphas: Garth, Gavin, and Caleb.

That's when I tried to step in and calm everyone down but McCabe pushed me aside and told me that he'd be fine. I was hesitant but let it happen. What I was to witness next suprised not only me, but every Alpha there.

McCabe fought with such skill, it was almost unbelievable. He kicked all three of there ass's without getting a scratch on himself. It was actually kind of amusing to see how frustrated Garth and the other two were getting. Luckily after they finished Garth and McCabe shook paws and ended on good terms with each other.

McCabe and I have also been hanging out a lot. We had become great friends and we loved each other's company. Kate also became kind of fond of him. He even befriended my three friends Salty, Shakey, and Mooch. He seemed to make friends with everyone. He was just a kind of wolf that you couldn't hate.

Which reminds me of something. That son of a bitch had only been here for two weeks before finding a girl that not oy he liked, but who liked him back. It was kind of funny how it happened though, he wasn't the one to ask her out, she had to ask him. He was really awkward around girls which just added to the amazement of his charecter. A wolf like that not being able to talk to girls, who would have ever known.

Of course the girl who liked him was easily one of the most beautiful girls in the pack. Her name was Abby. She had beautiful shining snow white fur, with glowing blue eyes. McCabe definitely knew how to pick them.

I had spent some time with her myself since she was one of Kates friends I often hung out with them. She was actually a really nice wolf, though she did have a fiery temper. McCabe hasn't wittnesed it yet so I don't know how he would react to it.

Today was the last day that Kate was given time off. Tomorrow she would be back to her normal duties of the pack. So I wanted to make this day one of the most memorable days of her life.

They day started off with Kate, McCabe and myself just walking through the pack. We had just finished up with eating lunch and decided to just wonder around for a little bit.

"So, you guys got any ideas on what to do. I don't want to do nothing for my day off." McCabe said.

"Well, I don't know. What exactly do you want to do?" I asked.

He shrugged,"Something fun and gives you a rush. Don't you guys have anything like that. You can't be that boring." He joked.

Kate and I simultaneously looked at each other with an evil grin. We both knew exactly what to do.

"What the hell are you two smiling at?" McCabe asked kind of nervously.

It was only a little while later when all three of us were sat on a log board looking down a giant steep hill. Kate and I both looked down with antisipation. We hadnt done this in such a long time and we're ready to speed down this hill. McCabe didn't feel the same way.

"Are you guys sure about this?" He question.

"Yah, it's perfectly safe. Just don't hit any trees or rocks and we'll all be fine." I told him.

He scoffed,"That's really reassuring, thanks." He said sarcastically.

"Stop being such a pup, it's not that bad." Kate mocked him.

He just rolled his eyes and told us to get it over with. We both smiled and started to count down from three. Once we hit one Kate and I pushed off with our hind legs and we immediately started gain major speed.

Kate and I were screaming from pure bliss, where as I'm pretty sure McCabe was screaming out of fear. I laughed to myself, he was being such a pup about this.

In only moments obstacles started to appear and that's when I took charge and started to give out commands.

"Angle right, 45 degrees." I shouted, making us nearly avoid a large boulder.

"You guys are insane." McCabe screamed out. But it sounded more like a compliment than an insult.

We continued to dodge more things in our way, but eventually we came to the bottom and slowly slid to a stop.

We all climed out of the board laughing from the rush that gave us.

"That was honestly one of the funnest things I have ever done in my life. How have you guys not shown this to me before?"

"We haven't done this in forever. And you haven't seen anything. This was an easy hill. Kate and I used to be able to do the largest mountain in all of Jasper." I told him.

"You'll definitely have to take me down sometime in the future." He said.

"Yah, let's just stick to this one for now. Get you some practice." Kate said.

For the next couple of hours that was all that we did. Slid down the hill and pushed the board back up the hill, and it was the most fun I have had in awhile. Being with my mate and one of my best friends just made me really happy. But all good things come to an end.

On our final slide down the hill I said that was enough for today.

"We got to go and get ready for the moonlight howl anyways." I told them.

"Moonlight howl?" McCabe questioned.

"Oh right, lone wolf. Its just a special event where you take a friend of someone that you love and just howl with them. Its really fun. You should probably ask Abby." I told him.

He nodded his head. "That would be nice, but I've never really howled for fun before. What if she dosn't like it, what if I sound terrible." He asked, flattening his ears against his head.

"Don't worry budy, if she really likes you she'll love you even if your howl is atrocious." I said.

He stared me down and Kate elbowed me in the stomach. "What?" I asked.

She just rolled her eyes and mumbled something about 'men'.

"I'm going to tell you something that helped out Garth with his howl. Because he used to have the worst howl in the world. Luckily he had Lilly to teach him. You just need to remember one thing, howl from the heart. Don't try to force it. Just let it flow out of you and everything will be fine."

McCabe thought about it for a second before he smiled. "Thank you Kate, I will try and do that. Hopefully it's not that bad."

"Don't worry, you'll do great. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go and get ready." Kate said as she walked away towards the river.

"You really do have something special, you know." McCabe commented.

"Yah, I know." I sighed happily. "Well, see yah later. I've got to go get ready too." I told him, walking off to another part of the river away from Kate.

When I got there I jumped in and started scrubbing dirt off of my fur. As I was washing I couldn't help but reflect over my life in the past year. Its been so great. I've made so many friends ever since that alpha and omega law was lifted. It seemed after that, that all alpha and omegas got along better, like a social barrier was lifted.

Then there was the obvious of getting to be Kates mate. That was by far the best thing that has happened to me. I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't have her.

After about fifteen minutes of bathing I finally got myself all clean. I hopped out of the water and shook myself dry. I then looked at myself reflection in the water and smiled.

"Kate's gonna love this." I said walking back towards the main grounds.

While I was walking back I couldn't help but stop and watch as McCabe tried to ask Abby to the howl. He looked extremely nervous and Abby just stood there trying not to burst out laughing. I just laughed to myself and started walking away.

The first place I went to was the feeding ground. I was starving after all the days activities. When I got there I went to the nearest caribou and started digging in. It was only a few minutes later that I saw McCabe walking over to me, looking really relieved. He came over and sat by me and took a bite of thr food.

"So how'd everything go." I chuckled.

He looked over at me with a glare. "You saw me trying to ask her, didn't you?"

"I saw enough." I laughed, leading him to lightly punch me in the shoulder.

"It went fine, she said yes." He told me.

"I knew she would. After this we will go and meet the girls at howling rock." I told him. He nodded and continued to eat.

After we both got done we set off to Howling rock. I wasn't really nervous at all because I have done this many times before. But the same couldn't be said for McCabe. He looked like a nervous wreck.

"Calm down man, everything is going to be fine." I told him.

"That's easy for you to say. This is how you grew up. This is all new to me." He pointed out.

"Just remember what Kate told you and everything will be fine. Now calm down and let's go have some fun."

He took a deep breath before nodding and we continued on our way. When we arrived we sat at the bottom of the mountain, waiting for our dates. The first one to arrive was Abby who dragged McCabe off to some part of the mountain. I chuckled as I saw him getting tugged along by Abby.

I waited for about another five minutes before finally my girl came walking into my sight. I don't care how many times I saw her like this, it will always take my breath away seeing her like this. Her fur glistened in the moonlight and she just looked amazing.

She walked up to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "You're looking handsome tonight." She complimented.

"Thanks, you're not so bad yourself." I replied.

We then started walking and made our way up the mountain going to claim our spot at the very top. When we were walking I tapped Kate on the shoulder and pointed out something off to our right. It was McCabe and Abby. Abby was howling right now, waiting for McCabe to join her. It looked like he was building up his courage before he finally just lifted his head and let out his howl.

I had to say, for his first howl it was pretty damn terrific. I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. It was one of the best howls I had ever heard. There was just no end with the suprises of this wolf. This guy just seemed to be good at everything he did.

After that shock, Kate and I finally made it to the top. We looked at each other with great love in our eyes. "You ready?" I asked.

"Always." She replied. That's when we tilted our heads back and started howling our hearts out to the heavens above. I would never be able to get over the beautiful sound that was Kates howl. As always our howls mixed together and danced in perfect harmony. It always brought a smile to my face to know that even with all our love towards each other, we were meant to be together.

I had many good days, but this was one of the greats. And what a better way to end it than howling to the moon with the love of my life.


	7. Chapter 7

My eyes started to open slowly as I felt the rays of the sun shine on my face. I lifted my head and looked around the den. I then sighed a little depressed. Kate had to go back to Alpha duties today and she wasn't here. That meant I wasn't going to be able to to spend as much time with her, which kind of sucks.

Oh well, it was great while it lasted. Being able to spend some quality time with my mate for the past little while has been wonderful. And last night just made everything better. I got to hang out with two of my favorite wolves, followed by an amazing howl with my beatific mate, finished off with coming back to the den and having a little time to our selfs, if you know what I mean.

I lazily got up and stretched out my stiff muscles. The scent of Kate and I still lingered in the den. I smiled a little bit at the thought of it. I then made my way out and looked up to see the sun was nearly in the middle of the sky.

"Gosh, I must have really slept in." I said to myself. But I just shrugged it off. Its not like I had anything to do or anywhere to be, I'm an omega.

I then made my way down the slope and started walking over towards the feeding grounds because I am really hungry. Luckily when I got there the hunting group was just getting there with the lunch catch. Among them was Kate who was walking straight towards me with a grin on her face.

"Hey handsome, see that you're finally up." She said.

"Yah, you really wore me out last night." I complimented her with a small laugh as I kiseed her neck. In return she realeased a small giggled.

"Down boy, we're still in public." Kate teased. "But maybe later tonight we can go another round." She whispered to me.

I chuckled "I would really like that."

"Hey guys." I heard someone shout from the side of us.

We looked over to see McCabe trotting over to us with a giant grin on his face. He was definitely happy about something, and it didn't take a genius to know exactly what it was.

"Have a great night with Abby?" I questioned.

"Yah, it was easily the best night of my life. I have never done anything like that before. I would like to thank you Kate, for your advice on howling. It really helped me out. Abby said she loved it and a lot of others complimented me on it." He said, still smiling with pure joy.

"So did you do anything else last night." I winked at him.

McCabe's face flushed and he looked at the ground. "No, nothing like that. I respect her to much to do that."

Kate elbowed me hard in the side. "I'm glad to see that you're happy. I guess you deserve it after being alone all your life." She said.

"Yah, alone." He repeated. But there was something about how he said it. It seemed kind of off. But I just shrugged it off.

"Well, we better get back to work, come on McCabe we've got border patrol." Kate told him as they both walked off.

"See yah later I guess. And I'm holding you to your promise Kate." I yelled to her. She just dropped her head and even from here I could see her face flush. I saw McCabe turn to her and ask her what the promise was.

I just laughed as I walked away. Now, what was I going to do while those two are on duty. I couldn't hang with my other three friends because they ventured over into the Eastern territory to check it out and have been gone for a couple of days. I didn't know anyone else I could hang out with.

I guess I could always go and talk to Earl. I haven't seen him in awhile and he was always interesting to talk to. So that's where I went. I walked over to the healers den and walked in.

Yet again there was that pup I saw those two other times. This time he had some bandages around his chest. What the heck was wrong with this pup.

"Now, a broken rib takes a really long time to heal. No activity for at least two months. I'm sorry but you're going to have to stay in your den that whole time." Earl explained to him and the mother.

They both nodded and then they left the den. What a peculiar pup.

"Hey Earl, how's it going."

Earl looked back at me and smiled. "Aww, Humphrey what a pleasant suprise. What brings you here?" He asked.

"I just had nothing to do, so I figured I'd come down here and talk with you." I told him.

He shrugged,"I don't see why not. What did you want to talk about?"

"I don't know, figured you'd tell me one of your stories." I said.

"Sorry Humphrey but I've already told you all of them." He said,"But there is something I would like to talk about." He said.

"And that would be?"

"How has McCabe been recently?" He questioned.

I tilted my head in confusiin, what would he want to know about McCabe. And from the way he said his name sounded like he didn't really like him.

"He's been fine. Just went to the moonlight howl with Abby and had a wonderful time." I told him. "Why do you want to know." I asked.

"I honestly don't trust him." He stated.

I was shocked, to say the least, at hearing him say this. McCabe was one of the most nice, trustworthy, and decent wolves that I have ever had the pleasure of getting to know.

"What makes you feel like that? McCabe's a great dude." I said.

"Remember when I told you I thought that he was a soldier?" He asked.

I nodded my head. That was his reasoning to why he attacked us in the first place.

"Well, I still think he is. Or at least was. You don't learn skills like his from living on your own your whole life. You are usually taught them. From the looks of it he has had a lot of training. I dont think he's telling the whole truth about himself."

I stood there shocked at what he told me. I didn't want to belive it, but what Earl said kind of made sence. But maybe McCabe was just an exception. I mean have you met the guy. He seemed too nice, besides what would be so bad that he would have to hide it from us.

I was about to say something, but I was interrupted by screaming that came from outside. Earl and I looked at each other before taking off outside. We went to the place where we heard the scream, only to find a giant group gathered around something.

Earl and I pushed our way through the crowed to the front of everyone. What I saw shocked me. Some eastern wolves were fighting with western wolves and from the looks of it McCabe, Garth and Kate were trying to break it up.

I was going to step in but Earl stopped me. "Jokes won't stop this. Either they will break it up or Winston will have to stop this." He told me.

So I reluctantly took a step back and sat down watching the fight. After a few seconds it seemed like things were calming down, until an eastern wolf released a giant snarl aimed towards McCabe, and he lashed out clawing McCabe in the face. That's when something in him changed.

He got a glazed look in his eyes as they dilated. His body quickly stiffened and he started to release a low growl that slowly started to grow louder, and louder. That caught everyone's attention. The fight seemed to stop at the frightening sound that came from McCabe, but he showed no signs of stopping. His eyes were fixed upon that eastern wolf.

"McCabe, are you ok?" Kate asked.

He didn't respond, instead he launched himself at that wolf and started lashing out at him. The wolf screamed out in fear and tried his best to protect himself. Kate and Garth immediately took action and sprinted over to his side and tried pulling him off. That seemed to only piss him off more.

Then he did something that broke my heart. He swung his paw at Kate, striking her in the face and sending her flying back.

"Kate." I yelled running over to her.

When I got over to her She lifted her head to reveal a gash on her cheek. I turned to see Garth pulling McCabe off of the wolf. McCabe flew back a couple of yards, and that's when he snapped out of that state of insanity.

He held his head and groaned a little before he turned towards the scene that he had caused. Earl was working on the wolf he attacked, while Garth tried to calm everyone down. The crowed had been shouting at McCabe and called him terrible names. He looked over to Kate and I could see tears in his eyes.

He looked over at me with teary eyes. "I'm so sorry." He cried before taking off in the other direction.

I don't know what came over me, but something told me I had to chase after him. I looked at Kate and told her I had to go after him and find out what just happened. She nodded her head and I took off after him.

McCabe was extremely fast so I wasn't going to be able to catch up to him, luckily I had his scent and I knew where he was going. I followed the scent for awhile until I came to the outskirts of the pack. I was certain that he fled, that is until I heard talking over on my right.

I walked over silently and poked my head through some bushes. It was McCabe with some unknown wolf. What the hell was he doing.

* * *

It happened again, I thought that I had gotten it under control but I didn't and now I was going to lose everything again. I had found friends and even someone I loved and that was all ruined because something I couldn't control took over me and made me do something terrible.

I tried to kill another wolf just because he growled at me and gave me a little scratch, what kind of sane wolf does thst. Then I smacked Kate, which made me feel terriby bad abut myself. It was just a terrible day. I dont even know why this happens. It seems to come at the most random times and I always end up paying severely for it.

But it didn't matter anymore. I was going to have to leave this pack forever and couldn't ever return. I would never be able to see Humphrey or Kate, or Abby ever again. Not that they would ever want to see me after what I just did.

I was just at the edge of the territory when out of nowhere I was tackled to the ground. I quickly kicked them off of me and faced them with a snarl, but who I saw shocked me.

"McCabe, is that you?" The wolf asked me in astonishment.

I nodded my head slowly. I couldn't believe that he was here. Out of every wolf in the world he happened to find me in this giant pack. What were the chances. The wolf walked closer as if I was one of the most fragile things in the world.

"What are you doing here Trey?" I asked.

"I was looking for you. McCabe, the pack needs you back." He told me.

That made me growl softly. "The pack wants me back, after what they did to me they expect me to drop everything and leave to help them. Why would they want me anyway. They banished me, I thought everyone hated me." I spat.

He sighed softly. "McCabe, our old enemies are back, and there not holding anything back this time." Trey said.

I looked at him amazed,"I thought we nearly wiped them out. How can they have the numbers to fight?" I asked.

"They've been recruiting anyone they can, lone wolves mostly. And even though our numbers have grown too, we don't stand a chance. We need you and your, uh 'skills'"

I rolled my eyes and grumbled to myself. "You expect me to go and help a pack who banished me so they can use me for my 'skills' even though that's the reason I was banished in the first place?"

He nervously smiled and nodded his head.

"No, I have a new life here. Trey, I found a new love and great new friends. I don't want to ruin it the same way I did last time. Please, leave me alone and don't tell anyone to saw me here." I asked of him. Even though I was on the run from this pack now, too. I just didn't want to get into anymore trouble than I already was with my home pack.

He looked reluctant about it, but he nodded his head. "I can see you've really changed, you would have taken this job in a heart beat. I guess it's for the best. If you ever change your mind, you know where we are." He said walking away.

I sighed in relief. I was glad he found me and not some other wolf. I knew I could trust him. I mean, he did used to be my best friend.

"Wait, Trey." I called out before he got to far away.

He turned around and gave me his attention.

"How's my sister?" I asked.

"She's fine, and she knows as little about you as possible. Just like I promised. " He said. And after that he took off north, back towards my old pack. I sighed knowing I dodged a bullet there. But it didn't seem like I was in the clear.

I heard someone clear there throat from behind me and when I turned to see who it was I saw Humphrey standing there with a serious look on his face. It was a cold glare, and just from how he looked at me I could tell that he saw something different in me, something that he didn't like.

"We need to go talk with Winston now." Was all he said before he turned and started walking to the head alpha den. And for some reason I decided to follow.


	8. Chapter 8

My mind was racing with questions and I needed answers from what I just witnessed. I heard every word of what McCabe said to that wolf. And who that wolf was, well apparently some wolf from his old pack. Which is interesting since he told everyone that he was never apart if a pack. I couldn't believe that Earl was right about him. He must have been a soldier it only made sence.

The things I heard them say kind of made me fearful of him. McCabe said that he was banished from his pack after using a 'skill' to do something to what I'm guessing was a rival pack. He must have done something pretty bad if he was banished after helping his pack.

Then there was something he said about having a sister. That never came up in conversation. Was everything this wolf has done just an act, everything he said just a lie? I felt like I didn't even know him at all. It kind of made me depressed. I thought I had gotten to know such a cool wolf. But as far as I know right now, he is nothing but a liar.

That's exactly why I was going to take him to Winston. He needed to know that McCabe wasn't the wolf that we all thought he was. He would know what to do with him. My guess was to banish him from the pack.

I looked behind me to see that he was still following me. His head was pointed down with his ears pressed against his head. He looked extremely sad. That made me remember that he said he didn't want a repeat of what happened in his last pack. Maybe that meant that he was a changed wolf. Or it could all be part of the act. I couldn't be sure, but like I said Winston would have the final say in it all.

When we got back to the area where the fight broke out and where McCabe freaked out, everyone had cleared out. Kate had gone somewhere, probably to her parents den. Which is exactly where I was heading.

I still couldn't belive that he lashed out at Kate like that. I have no idea what possesed him to do that but it really made me furious with him. But I was controlling my anger the best I could at the moment.

We got to the slope of the head alpha den and walked up. When we got to the top I turned to McCabe and told him to stay there until I told him to come in. He didn't talk, but nodded in understanding.

I walked into the den and found Eve looking Kates little wound over. Winston was sat over to the side looking like he was in deep thought. That's when he looked up to see me walking into the den.

"Humphrey." He exclaimed , "Did you find out what happened to McCabe?" He questioned.

"Yah, I would really like to give him a piece of my mind." Eve growled, wiping some stuff on Kates cheek causing her to wince.

"Not exactly, but I did bring him here to tell you something that you need to hear." I told him.

"Well then, where is he?" He asked.

I called out to McCabe and he slowly walked into the den, not making eye contact with anyone in the room. He sat down a little distance away from Winston.

"What happened with you McCabe. I may not have known you for very long but I know that doesn't seem like something you do." Winston said.

McCabe released a deep, long sigh. "I wish I knew sir. Than maybe I could stop it somehow."

"You mean you have no idea what happens?" Winston asked.

He shook his head, confirming what Winston asked.

"But why would you attack some wolf for no other reason than him growling at you?" He questioned.

"I believe I know the answer to that." Said someone from behind me.

I turned to look and saw Earl walking into the den. He walked over and sat in between Winston and McCabe. He looked over at McCabe with pitty. Earl was feeling sorry for him? Even after what he wittnesed him do. He must have known something that we didn't.

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Winston asked.

"First I need to know something. You weren't a lone wolf your whole life were you? You used to be apart of a pack and you were a soldier, weren't you?" He asked.

McCabe nodded his head. "I served for three years." He said.

Earl nodded his head, what McCabe said confirming what he had suspected.

"I'm guessing you went through some pretty terrible stuff. Probably saw some deaths, maybe even caused some yourself?" He asked, making McCabe nod.

"I'm pretty sure you have something called PTSD, or post traumatic stress syndrome. Its what soldiers get after they come back from war. You're having violent flashbacks and your survival instincts kick in making you very aggressive and very dangerous." He explained.

McCabe looked at him in shock. "So, it's not my fault that I do those things. And I'm not a mad wolf?" He asked.

Earl shook his head. "No. Though your mental state isn't to stable. I'd say the only way of helping you would be weeks, maybe even months of counseling." Earl explained.

McCabe sighed in relief. But he still wasn't off the hook.

"That still dosn't explain why you lied to all of us. I overheard him talking with someone from his old pack. He said that he was banished." I told everyone.

Everyone gasped, not expecting to hear that a wolf that they had thought that they gotten to know so well was a liar.

"I can't believe that I let a possible hazard into my pack. I thought I could trust you." Winston said with disappointment.

McCabe looked down at his paws. "I know a lot of the things I have told you weren't all that truthful. But I knew if I told you where I was from you'd of kicked me out. Ive just been alone for so long, I needed somewhere to go." McCabe explained.

"Why does it matter where you came from?" Kate asked.

"My pack doesn't have the best reputation." McCabe replied.

"Stop trying to avoid the answer. What is this pack." Winston demanded.

McCabe started looking nervously around the room. "I'm from a pack in British Columbia that's a little northwest of Jaspers most northern pack." He started.

I looked over to see Winstons and Eve's eyes grow wider like they already knew what he was going to say.

"It goes by the name of The Pack of the Western Woods." He stated, with a little pride in his voice.

I saw Winston and Eve sigh with relief. I even heard Earl do the same. I didn't understand what was going on here and by the look on Kates face, she had no idea either.

"I could have sworn you were going to say your enimies pack, The Glacier Pack. Those are some sick wolves." Eve said, which kind of made me wonder how bad they were, because if Eve calls them sick then something must definitely be wrong with them.

"I don't understand. How do you know those packs, I've never heard of them in my life." I stated.

Winston looked over at me. "These two packs are well known only because of the huge war that they were in. It lasted for nearly seven years, seven years of false peaces, backstabbing and lots of bloodshed." Winston explained. "His pack was on the brink of losing, but somehow they turned the war around in the blink of an eye and only months later won. Its only been over for maybe eight months. At least that's what I've heard. I'm pretty sure I'm missing some details."

McCabe nodded solemnly. "Are you not angry that I'm from that pack?" He asked.

Winston shook his head. "No, why would I be." He asked.

"I was part of one of the most violent wars in all of wolf history. I've done so many things I've regreted. You've heard the stories, why would you allow me to live in your pack." He nearly cried.

Winston just chuckled. "Son, I'm going to tell you something. War is war, and there's nothing anyone can do to change it. Its been around since the beginning of time, and will stay until the end of days. What ever you did was strictly for your pack."

McCabe returnd his eyes to looking at the floor, looking as if he was in deep thought. Like he was trying to figure out if what Winston said made any sence. Only moments later he lifted his head with a small smile.

"I guess you're right. Thank you sir."

But something still didn't make sence to me. Something that I think Winston was overlooking.

"What about you being banished. Why would they banish you." I asked him.

That made him wince a little. I knew he was hiding something from all of us.

"I'm sorry McCabe, but I need to know why if I am going to let you stay. I can't have a dangerous wolf staying in my pack. I hope you understand." Winston told him.

McCabe nodded in understanding. Finally, I was going to get some answers from him.

"I guess the best place to start is when I was born. Like Winston said, the war lasted at least seven years. I was born on the fourth year of war. Our pack was so desperate on winning the war that they started training pups from the day that their eyes opened. They put us through immense training that would break any normal wolf. But we had special motivation, because it was either we passed training or we died. There was no in between. I lost a lot of friends during training but as we were told 'it was all apart of toughening us up For war'."

"It was a year later after we were first recruited that we were sent on our first missions. My first year in service I climed my way through the ranks making it to the position of Captain in only a short amount of time."

"When I became a captain, I got to command my own squad. We were one of the best squads that the war had ever seen. This posed a threat to the enemy. So one day when my squad and I were doing a normal border patrol, we were jumped. I was forced to watch my whole squad slaughtered before me. Including my fiance who I had proposed to only a day earlier."

"Before they were able to kill me, a passing squad of wolves came in and drove them away, leaving me to be the only survivor of my squad. When I got back, my superiors said that my injuries made me unfit for battle and they honorably discharged me."

"So I was a retired wolf and I was able to see my parents for the first time after two years. We were all happy to see each other and I was welcomed with open paws. I even found out that I had a younger sister. She was only a week old when I returned. But she wasn't drafted into the army because when she opened her eyes she was blind."

"It was only a month later that we were raided by the Glacier Pack in an effort to try and cripple us. Fourtunetly for the pack only a few died. Unfortunately for me, both my parents died. I came back to the den to find my sister huddled close to both their dead bodies."

"I guess you can say that's where I snapped. Being in all these battles, seeing all those deaths, and then finding your parents dead, that really messes a wolf up. So I proposed a plan to my superiors, a plan that was highly against pack law in every pack known to wolf kind. But I was sick and tired of all the death. I told them to get me an enemy wolf, and I would torture him for information. At first they didn't like the idea, but after hearing my plea they allowed it. But only a few wolves got to know about what was going on. So they got me a wolf and I tortured him. But what you have to understand is that I had three years of pent up rage in me and I showed no mercy. I got the information, but the wolf was never seen again."

"I did this with so many wolves, to many to count, gaining important details about where certain high ranking wolves would be. With the info I gathered and some high percision attacks we ended that seven year war in a matter of months. After the war, my superiors told the pack of what we had done. The pack was outraged and I was put on trial. I was convicted guilty and for my war crimes I was banished from my pack. I've been roaming around as a lone wolf for six months."

"That's until I was recognized by some Glacier Pack wolves. Word had gotten out about what I had done and when they saw me they wanted revenge. I may be tough, but one against seven isn't much of a fair fight. I barely escaped and then I stumbled upon this pack. You guys took me in and then weeks later I had another episode. I ran into a wolf I used to know and he told me another war was starting between the packs. But I denied him. After he left, Humphrey found me and brought me here. And now here we are."

Honestly, I was speachless, and I think I spoke for everyone in the den when I say that. The things this wolf has done, it was scary to say the least. I can't believe I thought I knew anything about this wolf. Still I knew very little, he only gave a brief description of his life. Who knows what other grousome details there were that he left out.

Then there was the whole, breaking a major pack law thing. I guess I could relate, but the law put in place separating alphas and omegas was nowhere near as bad as the 'no cruel punishment' law. I don't event want to know what he did to those wolves.

But then agin, how could I blame him. He stopped a war that went on for seven years. A war that cost the lives of dozens of wolves. Generations of wolves that had only known the life of war until eight months ago. And now they were going to be thrown into another war. Those packs had some issues.

"I appreciate that you told us everything about yourself and your past. But I can't excuse the fact that you broke one of the worst laws to brake. If word was to get out about that the pack would be in an uproar. I'm sorry, you are a great wolf but I can't have you staying in this pack." Winston said in almost a whisper. He seemed really bummed that he had to do this.

I guess I was kind of sad about this too. I get that what he did was a terrible crime, but if you just get to know the wolf he isn't bad at all. He's actually really calm and loving and understanding. But I get where Winston was coming from. Having him stay would cause nothing but trouble. Plus, I don't think I could ever look at him the same ever again.

"I understand." Was all that he said. He looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"Can I at least say goodbye to Abby, please." He requested. Winston nodded his head. "After that I want you to be gone."

With that McCabe left to go find Abby. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He had found a new love in a new place where he could start all over again. But that was all ruined and now he was losing everything all over again.

"Are you ok, Humphrey." I heard Kate ask me, concerned.

I hadn't even noticed that I had shed a tear. "Yah," I told her, "I'm fine."


End file.
